Reversible data hiding (RDH) technology can not only completely extract the embedded secret data from the embedded data cover, but also losslessly restore the original cover. This is very practical in special application fields such as medical images and remote sensing images, and has become research hotspots in the field of multimedia security. This paper uses digital images as the cover. First, the classification, application and characteristics of data hiding technology and the basic framework and performance evaluation of RDH technology are briefly described. Secondly, five typical RDH techniques based on difference expansion, histogram shifting, prediction error expansion, pixel value ordering and interpolation techniques are separately introduced and discussed and the embedding and extraction process of each typical technology is given. Finally, the future research trends of RDH technology are prospected.